Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410110099
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Burton, the last of 53 drivers to attempt to qualify for Sunday's Mello Yello 500, knocked Michael Waltrip and his Pontiac off the pole and kicked John Andretti's Pontiac off the front row with a blistering lap of 185.759 mph.
Burton's lap on the repaved 1.5-mile oval was more than 4 mph quicker than the track record of 181.439 mph set May 25 by Jeff Gordon.
Fifteen other drivers also broke Gordon's record.
``The car really stuck good that first lap,'' Burton said. ``We couldn't have had it much better. We've come a long way, I tell you. We've missed five races [this year] and a lot of the race tracks that we ran really good on we couldn't even make the show.''
Burton was the 14th driver - and the second rookie - to win a Winston Cup pole in 1994. (Rookie Loy Allen has three.)
For the Pontiac teams, it was another disappointment in a winless year.
``If somebody was to run a perfect lap, I knew somebody could beat me,'' Waltrip said. He reached 184.332 mph in his Pontiac. ``I wanted to get the pole in the worst way, but I really want to win this race.''
Andretti, in a new Petty Enterprises Pontiac, was on the pole for the first half of the two-hour qualifying session after a lap of 183.874 mph. He wound up third.
``It wasn't a perfect lap, and it wasn't a pretty lap, but it certainly got us near the front of the grid, which is good for the race on Sunday,'' Andretti said.
The escalating speeds here have a lot of the drivers worried, but Burton is not among them.
``That [pole speed] is about what we qualified in the Busch series at Daytona,'' Burton said. ``But these cars are called race cars. They're meant to go fast. And the winner of the race is the one who can go the fastest the longest. The winner of the pole is the one who can go fastest for one or two laps. Whether its 170 [mph] or 180 doesn't really matter.
``You can definitely tell there are more G forces in turns 3 and 4 now because they've got that new pavement,'' he said. But that doesn't mean a driver can flatfoot the gas all the way around the track. I came all the way out of the gas in both corners.''
Joe Nemechek was fourth fastest, at 183.830 mph in a Chevy, followed by Gordon in another Chevy at 183.530 mph. Completing the top 10 were Geoff Bodine in a Ford at 183.362 mph, Derrike Cope in a Ford (183.014 mph), Brett Bodine in a Ford (182.921), Terry Labonte in a Chevy (182.914) and Dick Trickle in a Chevy (182.735).
Three of the top 10 drivers - Burton, Nemechek and Geoff Bodine - were riding on Hoosier tires.
Among the drivers who failed to qualify in the top 20 were Bill Elliott (26th), Dale Earnhardt (33rd) and Darrell Waltrip (38th).
A second round of time trials begins at 1:30 p.m. today.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB